Add a Sweet Old-Fashioned Touch to Your Thanksgiving with These DIY Crafts
Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season for many. You can enhance your Thanksgiving fun with some DIY crafting projects that are perfect for sprucing up your holiday decor or even giving away to guests as special Thanksgiving gifts. Here, we’ve outlined a wide array of crafts for you to enjoy. Some kid-friendly ideas are also included in case you want to craft with children over their Thanksgiving break. We’ve included basic supplies for each project, but you’ll likely need items like glue, scissors, and any special embellishments you might want to add.
Cozy Fall Placemats
Materials
Old plaid blanket or plaid fabric
Needle and thread (or sewing machine)
You can make cozy fall placemats to complement your Thanksgiving feast. To create them, you’ll use festive plaid fabric in autumn colors. If you stick with just autumn hues rather than Turkey Day fabric, you’ll be able to use your placemats next fall throughout the season. Cut your fabric or blanket into placemats. You can use an old placemat as a pattern. Then, sew the edges so they look neat and don’t fray. You may also wish to iron them to give them a crisp, clean look.
Pie Slice Garland
Materials:
Felt
Twine or cord
Gold rickrack
White buttons
Hot glue
Celebrate [one of] the best part of the Thanksgiving meal: dessert! Make a simple pie slice garland using felt in shades or orange and brown. Cut triangles from your felt and attach them to your twine to make a garland for your window or for hanging above your dining table. Decorate each triangle to look like a piece of pie. Use gold rickrack to adorn the back of the triangle to resemble pie crust. Add the button in the center of the triangle to resemble whipped cream.
Apple Ornament Party Favors
Materials
Red and green polymer clay
Twine
Create cute apple ornaments to give away to guests attending your Thanksgiving dinner. Use your red clay to make the apple body and the green clay to form its leaf and stem. The apple mold will help you form perfectly uniform apples. Carefully remove them from the mold and form a small hole in the top of the apple for running twine through later. Back your apple ornaments on parchment paper in a 215-degree oven for between 15 and 20 minutes to harden them. Once they cool, you can tie the twine to create your ornaments. Leave them plain or embellish them as you wish. This is an easy craft project for kids too!
Wood Bead Pumpkin Decor
Materials:
Large wooden beads (about the size of a grape)
Plain wire
Jar lid
3 Cinnamon sticks
First, tie your cinnamon sticks together so that they form a ‘pumpkin stem’. You’ll need to cut 6 wires that are 12 inches in length. Twist the very ends of the wires together and spread them out so that they resemble a spider shape. Then, bead each arm until you have an inch left at the top of each wire. Bend each wire to form your pumpkin. Wrap the top portion of the wire to the cinnamon stick stem. Add some hot glue to the base of your pumpkin on the very bottom beads and attach it to your jar lid base. While you can use plain wood beads, orange beads will work even better! Use this beaded pumpkin as a coffee table or dinner table centerpiece.
Painted Gourds Centerpiece
Materials
6-8 small gourds
Craft paint (your choice of colors)
This DIY craft is a perfect way to spend an afternoon with your children. Paint your assorted gourds in festive fall colors or metallic hues. You can add designs to the gourds or just transform them with a single coat of color. After the gourds dry, you can line them up on a table runner to adorn your dinner table as a Thanksgiving centerpiece
Nature-Inspired Door or Wall Wreath
Materials
Pinecones
Dried twigs, berries, and acorns
Wreath form
Silk autumn leaves
Twine
Adorn your home with a DIY autumn wreath made with items from your own backyard or from your local craft store. You’ll need your glue gun to attach your pinecones and other assorted items to the wreath. Once the items are in place, you can add some festive shimmer using your craft foil flakes or glitter. Finally, tie the twine to the top of the wreath so you can hang it on your door or on a wall.
Flower Pot Turkey Favors
Materials
Mini terracotta flower pots
Craft paint
Autumn-colored silk maple leaves (3 per pot)
Assorted fall candy (candy corn, wax pumpkins, caramels)
Using your craft paint, add turkey faces to each flower pot. Then, when your paint has dried, glue three leaves to the back of the pot to reflect the turkey’s feathers. Fill each pot with assorted candies to give to your Thanksgiving guests. You can also try a variation on this and use a larger terracotta pot to create a candy dish accent for your foyer or family room.
Candy Corn Mason Jars Silverware Holders
Materials
3 (or more) mason jars
Orange, yellow, and white craft paint
Plain twine
If you’re serving a Thanksgiving buffet, these mason jar accents are perfect to feature as receptacles for silverware or plastic ware. To create them, you’ll want to follow a candy corn color pattern. Paint the bottom section of each jar yellow. Paint the middle section orange and the top section white. To ensure you have straight lines between colors, you might want to attach painters tape. Once your paint has dried, you can attach the twine around the top of the jar and tie it with a simple bow.
Each of these crafts will help you celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. Many can even be reused for future celebrations. Shop The Nerdy Birdy to find great deals on craft supplies for these and other DIY craft projects.